Following the chilling success of their first collection, Lady Eckland, Glenn Riley, and new collaborator, Bella Darkwood return to guide you through the shadowy corridors of fear with their second compendium, *Whispers In The Dark 2*. These master...
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With many thanks once again to Horror73 for providing me this unique idea.
In the shadowed heart of Chicago, nestled among the sprawling urban expanse, lay the forgotten remnant of a railway that once led directly into the eerie expanse of Eldritch Cemetery. This abandoned track, shrouded in mystery and cloaked by the passage of time, harbors a sinister secret known to a select few. Among them was a seasoned railway worker named Tom, whose decades of service on the city's commuter rail lines had not prepared him for the chilling encounter that awaited him.
One fateful night in the late 1970s, under a crescent moon that cast an ominous glow over the city, Tom witnessed an otherworldly phenomenon that would forever alter the course of his life. The veteran rail man had been making his nightly rounds, inspecting the deserted tracks for any signs of disrepair or unauthorized activity. As he neared the stretch that skirted along the edge of Eldritch Cemetery, an unnatural chill crept up his spine.
"Must be getting too old for this night shift," Tom muttered to himself, tugging his worn jacket tighter against the evening chill.
But as he ventured further down the abandoned line, the air grew heavier, almost suffocating in its density. Tom's breath caught in his throat as a thick, unnatural fog began to roll in, swirling around him like a ghostly serpent.
"What in the hell..." His words trailed off as a sound reached his ears, a faint rumbling that seemed to emanate from the very earth beneath his feet.
Tom strained his eyes, peering into the impenetrable mist, his heart pounding in his chest. Suddenly, a ghastly shape emerged from the depths of the fog, a massive, spectral locomotive gliding silently over the rusted tracks. Tom stumbled backwards, his eyes wide with terror, as the phantom train materialized before him, its skeletal form flickering in and out of existence like a waking nightmare.
Defying all logic, the ghostly engine continued its eerie procession, disappearing into the abandoned station that marked the entrance to Eldritch Cemetery. Tom watched, frozen in place, as the last vestiges of the apparition faded into the mist, leaving him alone once more in the deathly silence.
Rattled to his core, Tom rushed back to the rail yard, his mind racing with a thousand unanswered questions. He burst into the foreman's office, his face ashen and his hands trembling.
"Franklin!" he exclaimed, his voice quivering with fear. "I just saw... I can't even begin to describe it. A ghost train, passing right through the old Eldritch line!"
The foreman, an aging veteran himself, fixed Tom with a grave look. "So, you've seen it too," he said solemnly. "The Soul Collector."
Tom's brow furrowed in confusion. "The what? Frank, what are you talking about?"
Franklin sighed deeply, motioning for Tom to take a seat. "There's an old legend among us railmen, one that's been passed down for generations. The apparition you saw is known as the Soul Collector, a cursed train that's bound to the tracks near Eldritch Cemetery."
